Ireland In Prehistory Knowth Co Meath Neolithic Settlement And Passage Tombs

Seminar paper from the year 2019 in the subject History - Miscellaneous, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, language: English, abstract: The passage tombs of Knowth (Irish: Cnogba) are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site ‘Boyne Valley’. They are located within the bend of the River Boyne (Irish: Brú na Bóinne) in Co. Meath, about 8 km from the sea. The megalithic (Greek: mega [big] and lithos [stone]) passage tombs were built during the Neolithic (4000-2500 BC) and are among around 1,400 extant Neolithic tombs in Ireland. The three main Neolithic burial types are court, portal and passage tombs. A passage tomb consists “of a parallel-sided passage leading into a distinct chamber.” They usually contained more than one individual. The Boyne Valley contains around forty passage tombs, the largest collection of megalithic art in Europe and has always been an ‘important ritual, social and economic centre for thousands of years.’ Knowth contains the biggest passage tombs in Europe. Long-term excavations were carried out by Professor George Eogan at Knowth from 1962 until the late 1990s.